Lily

God, I hope he likes it, Lily thought, as she carried two full plates of eggplant Parmesan out to the living room.

Wyatt followed close behind. He was carrying a little plate for Maggie. In addition to the eggplant, though, they'd given her some tater tots and green beans. Wyatt wasn't sure if she was going to like the eggplant. She'd never tried it before. This would be her first time and eggplant is one of those things that you either love or you hate.

Lily was actually a little bit nervous as they sat down on the couch to eat. She hadn't cooked a real meal in quite some time. Usually, her dinners by herself consisted of a bowl of cereal or microwave food. Sometimes she'd go all out and make spaghetti and meatballs but never went as far as something like this. She really hoped that Wyatt would approve, since she still had eight days worth of cooking to do for him and wanted to make a good first impression.

“You're sure you don't mind if we watch the game while we eat?” Wyatt asked, taking a seat next to Lily on the couch.

She shook her head. “No, of course no. I think it will be fun.”

Maggie sat on the floor in front of the couch, taking a seat to the left of Lily's feet. They set the plates down onto the black marble coffee table in the center.

“The food is hot, we should let it cool for a second,” Lily said. Really, though, she was just postponing everybody trying it.

Wyatt turned on his gigantic flat screen TV and found the channel that was playing The Raccoon's game.

“Perfect timing,” he said. “They're just starting. If we keep our eyes out, we can probably find Derek sitting in the front row.”

Lily laughed. “We can spy on him.”

“Yep,” Wyatt said. “We'll be able to see if he found someone to go with him or not. Although, I'm sure he did.”

They watched the first few minutes of the game and when the food had cooled, Lily cleared her throat. “Alright, guys. Let's dig in.”

Lily watched carefully as the two of them took a bite of the food. Wyatt kind of jerked his head back a little bit and his eyes widened. It looked almost like he had eaten one of those super sour pieces of candy, the kind that make your face scrunch up.

Oh no, she thought. It must be awful.

She then looked down to Maggie, who had taken a bite, only to spit it back out on the plate. Neither of them said anything, so she decided to try for herself. She stuck her fork into a piece of eggplant and popped it in her mouth, immediately realizing why they were acting the way they were.

My God, she thought, chewing as quickly as possible so as to get it past her tongue and down her throat. I ruined it. I added way too much salt.

“It's really bad,” she said, with a sigh.

Maggie, still too young to understand tact, nodded in agreement. “Wheely bad.”

Wyatt forced a smile and took another bite. He was obviously just doing it to be nice, though. It was clearly taking a lot of effort. “It's alright, Lily. I think it's just fine.”

“No, no,” Lily said, shaking her head. “It's awful. I added way too much salt. I thought for sure my mom had told me to use a quarter cup, but now that I think about it, that might have been the amount I was supposed to use for the breadcrumbs. I knew that looked like way too much salt. I'm so sorry you guys.”

She was legitimately disappointed in herself. All of this planning and preparation, just to make a meal that was practically inedible.

“Please, nobody eat this,” she said, gathering the plates. “I'll make something else. This belongs in the garbage.”

Maggie took her napkin and began using it to wipe off her tongue.

“Maggie, don't do that,” Wyatt said. “It wasn't that bad.”

“My tongue burns,” she replied. “I need water.”

“I'll get you some water, sweetie,” Lily replied.

She stacked the plates and headed to the kitchen, feeling almost as embarrassed about the food mishap as she had the night before, when Wyatt had walked in on her while she was wearing only panties.

“Hey, Lily, let me help you.” Wyatt hopped up from the couch and followed Lily into the kitchen. She really didn't want him to, though. Her cheeks were on fire as she blushed and all she felt like doing was crying.

“I can't believe I did that,” Lily said, as she dumped the contents of the plates into the trash. “I really wanted to make this meal something special.”

Wyatt placed his hand onto her shoulder and squeezed it affectionately. “Well, it was definitely special.”

She turned to look at him, noticing he was smiling playfully. It was contagious and soon, she found herself laughing. “Yeah, I guess you're right. I think after one bite, all of our blood pressure went up about forty points. That's pretty special. In all seriousness, though, I feel terrible. I messed up this whole thing.”

“You definitely shouldn't feel bad,” Wyatt said. “It's just one meal. Who cares? Do you have any clue how many times I've ruined meals in the kitchen? I can't even tell you because I don't know. The number is way too high to keep track of. All I know is that it's a lot. There's a reason Mildred won't let me step foot in here.”

“Really? You're not mad?” Lily asked.

Wyatt's eyes widened and a confused expression crossed his face. “Mad? Are you kidding me? Why would I be mad? These things happen. Tell you what, why don't we just order Chinese tonight and have it delivered? There's a really nice place nearby and it usually only takes them fifteen or twenty minutes to have it at the front door.”

Lily nodded and a wave of relief flooded through her. “That actually sounds really good.”

Wyatt smiled and pulled out his cell phone. “What would you like?”

“I'll take whatever you're getting,” Lily said. “I pretty much love anything that comes from a Chinese restaurant.”

“Sesame chicken it is,” he said. A moment later, he began speaking on the phone to place the order.

Lily continued scraping the toxic eggplant Parmesan into the trash. When she was done, she put the plates into the dishwasher. It took a few swigs of her red wine to wash the salty taste out of her mouth, but soon it was gone.

I knew I wasn't the best good in the world, but jeez, I had no idea I could mess up a meal quite that drastically, she thought. It's okay, though. I'm here for over a week still. There's plenty of time for me to redeem myself.